Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 113
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 113
When you’re fermenting cooked rice, you usually add a tablespoon or two of sugar.
It accelerates the enzyme reaction of the barley malt, so the fermentation proceeds faster and more evenly.
But Lion decided not to use any sugar for this batch.
Part of the reason was that he had the Fermentation Acceleration skill.
“Nature.”
“Peep.”
“Could you heat this pot gently for me? Not too high—a little lower than when we cook sausages.”
He wanted Nature’s help directly.
Nature, who had been hanging around with nothing to do, finally had a task and seemed pleased about it—the spirit soared high once around the kitchen, then began to breathe fire from its beak, just like a dragon firing its breath.
Fwoooosh…
A tiny flame emerged from Nature’s beak.
It was a curious flame; even when it touched his hand, it wasn’t hot, as if Nature was controlling the temperature.
‘Or maybe it doesn’t burn me because I’m its master?’
“Wow~ That’s amazing! Nature!”
“Peep, peep.”
Nature circled the pot once with an even prouder expression.
Soon the pot reached a temperature where it was uncomfortable to keep a bare hand against it.
Exactly the temperature of a rice cooker on the keep-warm setting.
‘If I’d added sugar, even six minutes would’ve been more than enough…’
But since he’d left the sugar out, he decided to let it sit a little longer.
Lion praised Nature and counted the seconds in his head.
At around two minutes, he opened the lid once to stir, and before the six-minute mark, he stirred once more.
It was to make sure the fermentation happened evenly.
“Now all we have to do is wait.”
Lion closed the lid again and spent the remaining time.
Then, after the planned six minutes had passed, he opened the lid…
“Oh.”
He’d worried something might go wrong, but the sikhye had fermented beautifully!
A few grains of rice were floating to the surface, and the color had turned that characteristic cloudy hue of proper sikhye.
“Nice.”
He’d been afraid it might over-ferment and spoil, but it had fermented just right!
Now that the aging was done, the important work was practically finished.
‘Now I just have to adjust the consistency and sweetness.’
Lion lifted the pot, poured the sikhye base into a larger kettle on the side, and turned on the heat.
Once it came to a boil, he skimmed off the impurities, and while he was at it, tasted it.
‘It’s already good as it is.’
The sweetness was definitely milder without sugar added yet, but for something without sugar, it was remarkably sweet.
“This is fascinating.”
Was it the grain’s natural sweetness, perhaps?
There was something deeper and more refined about the flavor compared to ordinary sugar.
‘If I add sugar on top of this, the sweetness will definitely gain layers, won’t it?’
Grinning, Lion added a little more water, skimmed the impurities a few more times, then cut some washed ginger and dropped it into the kettle.
Too much would make it pungent, but a small amount like this would tame that distinctive fermented aroma of sikhye and leave a cleaner finish.
‘The rice shop owner told me that as a tip.’
Of course, back then it had been information he wasn’t particularly curious about, but he never dreamed it would come in handy now.
When the ginger fragrance started to rise, Lion fished out the ginger with a strainer.
And then, finally—
he brought over the cotton sugar, scooped some out with a ladle, and scattered it in.
Swiiish—
Just as the description said, it felt exactly like picking up soft cotton.
Soft, with grains even finer than sugar.
He tasted a little… it wasn’t just plain sweetness like ordinary white sugar. Instead, it had a subtly complex flavor, almost like unrefined sugar.
‘So this is why the nobles are crazy about it.’
It was so remarkable he understood instantly.
Lion stirred briskly with the ladle to dissolve the sugar thoroughly, and once it had completely melted, he turned off the heat and quickly moved the kettle elsewhere.
If you keep boiling it after adding sugar, the color gradually turns brown, like syrup.
“Nature, is it possible for you to make it cold too?”
“Peep, peep.”
As if asking why he’d even question that, Nature pattered over and poked the pot with its beak.
“Wait. Not too cold—just enough that a thin layer of ice starts to form, I think that’d be perfect.”
“…Tch.”
“Once it’s done, I’ll give you some first.”
“Pee~!”
After displaying a variety of expressions on a simple face, Nature immediately began pecking at the kettle.
Tap-tap! Tap!
Strangely, each time it touched the kettle, the heat subsided and a chill gradually rose.
“Thank you.”
As promised, Lion poured sikhye into a small dish and a cup.
He set them in front of Nature, then gazed at the sikhye with a deeply emotional expression.
[Nostalgic Sikhye (★★)]
- Could this taste even better than the memories?
- Perhaps because it’s homemade, it has a deeper flavor.
[A personal touch has been added to the memory.]
[Cooking Experience Points increased by 15 percent.]
“I actually pulled this off.”
Lion thought of the sikhye and looked back over the journey so far.
It had been a long road just for this one cup!
The first batch of barley had ended up in Varg’s stomach.
And in the middle of all that, he’d noticed the guy’s Eclipse symptoms, which led to growing flowers in the labyrinth.
‘Come to think of it, I wonder if he’ll like this sikhye too.’
When he heard that Varg had regained consciousness, he’d have to go visit and bring this sikhye.
Thinking that, Lion took a big gulp of the cold sikhye, with the thin ice floating in it.
“Khhh! This is it.”
The savory fragrance of the rice, joined by a merciless barrage of complex sweetness pounding throughout his entire mouth!
And the very subtle assistance of the ginger, which kept the sweetness—which could otherwise feel excessive—in perfect check!
“How is it? Worth the help, right?”
Nature had already drunk all the liquid and was pecking at the rice grains.
Yeah. That’s the other good part.
Lion stirred his cup and drank another mouthful with the rice grains; the grains, having released all their starch into the sweetness, crumbled dryly as he chewed.
Some people, he’d heard, absolutely hated these rice grains.
Apparently, foreigners even showed outright revulsion.
That was why plenty of commercial products actually sold sikhye without the rice grains.
Lion, of course, was firmly on the “like” side of that divide!
‘Even if tastes differ, leaving out the rice grains just feels wrong.’
After finishing all the cold sikhye, Lion divided it into reasonably sized glass bottles, one portion each.
“I’d better hand these out soon.”
Sikhye has a short shelf life.
At room temperature, it spoils in barely three days, and even in the refrigerator it only lasts about a week.
‘If you freeze it, I’ve heard it keeps for up to a month or two…’
But freshly made, chilled sikhye tastes the best, so he needed to give it out quickly.
Lion gathered the cold bottles and left the kitchen.
“Young master. You’ve already finished?”
Alex was lingering outside the kitchen. He’d probably been ready to dash in the moment something went wrong.
“Yeah. The drink turned out great. Try some.”
Lion handed him a bottle of sikhye and breezed right out.
“Huh? It’s cold?”
Alex stared at the cold bottle of drink.
There was definitely no ice in it. Besides, it would take quite a while to chill something after cooking, wouldn’t it?
‘And besides…’
Alex gazed at the rice grains settled inside the glass bottle.
For rice to be this plumped up, wouldn’t it need at least an hour? And chilling it on top of that?
Unable to contain his curiosity, Alex opened the sikhye and drank.
“Hm? Mmmm?!”
At first, an unfamiliar grain flavor hit him.
It felt a bit like bread made from rice that had been soaked and turned into a drink.
But… there was something oddly captivating about it.
One sip led right into the next.
It quenched thirst perfectly, and the sweetness had layers—this clearly wasn’t made with ordinary effort.
“H-how on earth did he finish this so fast?”
The hotteok, at least, had a short cooking time.
That was why he could taste and copy it.
But by everything Alex understood, producing this depth of flavor in such a short time should have been impossible.
“Damn it… Young master. How did you manage this one too…!”
Alex cried out feebly toward Lion, who had already vanished into the distance.
“Haa. Where do I even start? Fine. Let’s start by growing barley.”
Alex clutched the precious new food reference—no, the sikhye the young master had made—and walked away.
* * *
The first person Lion gave the sikhye to was none other than Elvia.
“You’ve made another interesting drink.”
“Yeah. It’s called sikhye. Try some.”
Elvia looked at the cloudy beverage inside the bottle.
She’d wondered what he would make with barley sprouts, and something she had never seen before had emerged.
‘His originality really is remarkable.’
Elvia opened the bottle and savored the sikhye a little.
“Hoh.”
It was a curious flavor, but not an unfamiliar one.
“How is it?”
“It seems exceptionally effective at quenching thirst. It has a different character from that Spirit Water. May I ask how you came up with such a unique drink?”
“It came to mind at the hot spring.”
“The hot spring?”
“Yes. You know, the hot spring I made.”
Lion began to explain.
He said that when he came out of the hot spring, thoroughly warmed and parched with thirst, he’d imagined something that would, in one sip, spread sweetness and quench his thirst.
“And it seemed like it’d go really well with a roasted egg.”
Elvia nodded at Lion’s words.
It did seem like swallowing a mouthful of this after eating a dry, crumbly egg yolk would be a perfect match.
“So anyway, Elvia.”
Lion handed her one more bottle of sikhye.
“I’m not leaving the mansion from now on, so go enjoy the hot spring for a while.”
“…”
Elvia finally understood what Lion was really getting at.
‘It’s been weighing on him.’
In the Bydantis territory as well, Lion had been the only one to use the hot spring.
And it had been the same for the hot spring in Mimir Forest.
Inevitably so, wasn’t it?
So she hadn’t felt particularly regretful about it… but her endearing little puppy had been bothered by it all this time.
‘How should I put this?’
The truth was, Elvia preferred keeping Lion safe and watching the things he got up to, rather than relaxing in a hot spring.
How to describe it.
A high degree of job satisfaction?
Compared to the past, when things were tediously dull, it was a far better life.
But—
‘He wouldn’t want me to refuse.’
Lion Asteri—that puppy she cherished like her own grandson—placed enormous importance on rest.
‘In that case, I should gratefully accept his thoughtfulness.’
Elvia was about to consent… and then a pleasant idea came to mind.
“Very well. But it would be rather lonely alone, so I’ll take your pupil with me, Young Master.”
“Huh?”
“When you’ve lived as long as I have, loneliness finds you for no good reason.”
“Uh… sure. If Freyania agrees, then go ahead and do that.”
In fact, one of the bottles of sikhye was meant for Freyania.
She had helped with creating the hot spring, after all.
Besides, she had seemed quite interested.
“Then will you take this to her as well? Ah, and it’ll be better drunk cold.”
“Understood.”
Elvia accepted the bottle meant for Freyania, gave a polite bow, then vanished into the shadows.
‘Looks like she’s taken quite a liking to Freyania.’
Though the person in question seemed a bit scared of her.
Lion tilted his head, then continued walking.
There were plenty of people to give sikhye to.
The fact that Freyania screamed when Elvia suddenly appeared beside her was something, regrettably, that no one else noticed.